Method and apparatus for releasably attaching a towel to a close-ended rod

ABSTRACT

A round towel is provided with a centrally located bifurcated strap having closure apparatus at the distal ends thereof to permit hanging the towel by its center over a rod or other elongated longitudinally running support member having closed ends. In one embodiment the towel is hung on the rod by surrounding the rod with the distal ends of a strap with the strap ends releasably secured to form a loop around the rod. This hanging method and apparatus enables one to hang towels from a towel rod rather than passing a portion of the towel through and over the rod, while at the same time affording a pleasing appearance for the hung towel along with any indicia, since the towel is not crushed by its passage over the towel rod.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to towels and more particularly to a method and apparatus for releasably securing a towel to a towel rod so that the towel may be easily hung without distortion of the towel to permit undistorted display of its indicia, with a releasable strap permitting ready access to the towel when desired.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

As is common in the hanging of towels, they are inserted between a towel rod and a wall or other support. This permits easy access to the towel simply by pulling the exposed portion of the towel from between the towel rod and the wall. It will be appreciated that this method of hanging of towels is necessitated because a towel rod is close ended, meaning that there are towel rod supports on either end of the rod which preclude the entry of the towel from either end. More recently, so-called circular towels have been made available. These towels hang from a center portion of the towel, with the towel falling in a kind of triangular shape from the point from which they are hung.

In the past, these towels have been hung over hooks, nails or other protuberances, but are not easily hung over towel rods, due to their peculiar shape.

For instance, when a circular towel is hung over a towel rod, it looks unkempt and is crushed with folds hiding towel designs.

Towel rods are typically attached to a wall or come as part of the door handle on ovens. When one wants to give a kitchen a pleasing appearance, one would like to have the towels hanging from a towel rod so that they fall in a pleasing manner and are not seen as disorderly.

Moreover, while rectrolinear towels can be folded, for instance in threes, and draped over a towel rod by passing it between the towel rod and the wall or oven door, and while these towels may be smoothed out over the towel rod to display indicia on the towel, it is only with extreme difficulty that one can hang circular towels on a towel rod because the towel bunches.

When one attempts to stuff a circular towel through the space between the towel rod and the wall, it looks unsightly. Thus, in the past there has been no convenient way to hang a circular towel so it doesn't look messy, much less display the towel in a pleasing fashion with indicia on the towel displayable without being hidden by unsightly folds.

While in the past circular towels have carried a center loop to assist in their hanging, this loop is only useful when hanging a towel over a hook. A loop in no way assists in hanging the circular towel over a towel rod, because the interior of the loop cannot be placed around the towel rod due to the fact that the ends of the towel rods are not accessible. This precludes hanging the circular towels on a towel rod so that they fall gracefully.

Moreover, with a closed loop, there is no way to hang the circular towel from a towel rod with the indicia or surface of the draped circular towel unobscured by folds.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION

In order to solve the problem of hanging circular and other towels on a towel rod or the handle of an oven door, in the subject invention a bifurcated loop is sewn to the center of the towel such that the ends of the loop are releasably attachable, in one embodiment by using a button and a buttonhole on either end of the bifurcated loop. In another embodiment, snaps are used on the bifurcated ends, whereas in a third embodiment interlocking loop connectors, such as Velcro®, may be applied to the opposed bifurcated ends.

By providing a bifurcated loop strap for the towel, it is possible to hang the towel from a towel rod using the loop so that the towel falls naturally into a triangular shape and looks good.

Additionally, any indicia, such as designs and the like, on the towel are clearly visible when the towel is hung by its center on the towel rod so that the towel designs are unobscured by folds. Further, multiple draped towels can be positioned on the towel rod to provide its pleasing appearance and not look messy.

In summary, a round towel is provided with a centrally located bifurcated strap having closure apparatus at the distal ends thereof to permit hanging the towel by its center over a rod or other elongated longitudinally running support member having closed ends. In one embodiment the towel is hung on the rod by surrounding the rod with the distal ends of a strap, with the strap ends releasably secured to form a loop around the rod. This hanging method enables one to hang towels from a towel rod by a loop rather than passing a portion of the towel through and over the rod, while at the same time providing visibility of towel indicia, since the towel is not bunched by its passage over the towel rod.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and other features of the subject invention will be better understood in connection with the Detailed Description, in conjunction with the Drawings, of which:

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic illustration of a prior art towel rack and towel, illustrating the bunched hanging of the towel on the towel rack when the towel is inserted between the towel rack and a backing such as the door of an oven;

FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic illustration of a prior art circular towel with a continuous loop showing the hanging of this towel over a hook or other protuberance;

FIG. 3 is a diagrammatic illustration of a circular towel hung from its center by a bifurcated loop which is snapped over a towel rod, in which the indicia on the towel as well as a large portion of the towel is straight and in a triangular shape so that when viewed, the towel looks neat and tidy with towel indicia unobscured;

FIG. 4 is a diagrammatic illustration of the bifurcated loop of FIG. 3 in which snaps are utilized to join the bifurcated ends of the loop;

FIG. 5 is a diagrammatic illustration of the bifurcated loop of FIG. 3 in which a button and buttonhole are used to join the ends of the bifurcated loop; and,

FIG. 6 is a diagrammatic illustration of the loop of FIG. 3 where the bifurcated ends of the loop are joined together utilizing an interlocking loop connector such as Velcro®.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Referring now to FIG. 1, a towel rod 10 is attached to a door 12 of an oven or wall utilizing end brackets 14 and 16 which, as will be appreciated, deny access to the ends of the towel rod.

When hanging a towel on such a towel rod, a towel 20 is stuffed into an area 22 in back of towel rod 10 such that the towel is looped over the towel rod. Especially for circular towels the hanging of the towel and draping of it over the towel rod is bunched and messy, such that the towel does not create a pleasing appearance when hung in this matter. While rectrolinear towels can be stretched out along the length of towel rod 10 and, therefore display a face of the towel that is flat, when using circular towels, the appearance of the towel in such a fashion stuffed in between the towel rod and the backing of the towel rod creates a messy and unpleasant appearance for the display of the towel.

Referring to FIG. 2, in the prior art a circular towel 24 is hung by a continuous loop 26 over a hook 28 such that when the towel is hung in this manner, it drapes into a cone-like configuration. This is the same type of draping that would occur if one picked up the circular towel by its center. It will be appreciated that the circular towel with a continuous loop such as shown cannot be conveniently hung on a towel rod, due to the fact that the circular towel has to be stuffed between the towel rod and its backing. The loop itself cannot be looped around the towel rod because of the closed ends of the towel rod.

In contradistinction to the prior art described above, in the subject invention, as seen in FIG. 3, in one embodiment a circular towel 30 is mounted to a towel rod 34 on a door 36 of an oven 40 in which towel 30 is provided with a bifurcated loop 42. The bifurcated loop has bifurcated ends 44 and 46 which are joined together by a fastener 48 once the bifurcated loop encircles the towel rod.

The result is that the circular towel drapes down in a triangular or cone shape form, as illustrated, with indicia 50 being clearly visible due to the fact that there are no unsightly folds created were the towel to be stuffed between the towel rod and a wall.

More than one towel can be positioned on the towel rod in this manner, such that the towels can be moved laterally with respect to the towel rod, whereby a number of circular towels draped in a conical fashion can be carried by the towel rod and displayed side by side with ease.

Referring now to FIG. 4, in one embodiment the bifurcated strap or loop 42 is provided by mating snaps 50 and 52, with the center 54 of the strap being sewed, as illustrated at 56, to the center of the circular towel.

Referring to FIG. 5, in a second embodiment bifurcated loop 42 is provided with a button 60 and a buttonhole 62, with loop 42 being secured to the towel at 54, as illustrated by sewing 56 so that towel 30 is hung from its center.

Finally, with respect to FIG. 6, towel 30 may be provided with a bifurcated loop 42 that has interlock loop Velcro® portions 64 and 66 to join the bifurcated ends of loop 42 together around a towel rod.

The snap and the button arrangements are preferred to the Velcro® insofar as the Velcro® can catch on the towel material. However, if care is taken, Velcro® need not catch on to the towel material itself.

What has been provided is a convenient method for hanging a circular towel to a towel rod utilizing a bifurcated loop. The subject arrangement allows for unobstructed view of the indicia on the towel when the towel is draped utilizing the bifurcated loop structure described above.

Moreover, since the loop can be laterally moved on the towel rod, the position of the towel on the towel rod can be easily adjusted. Additionally, depending on the length of the towel rod, numbers of circular towels can be mounted in this fashion.

Referring now to FIG. 7, it will be appreciated that the subject towel mounting method can be utilized to handle multiple towels 30 side by side on a towel rod so that, as shown, children's indicia can be lined up across the towel rod by hanging the towels side by side.

As can be seen, the unobstructed view of the indicia on the towels makes it possible to hang towels across the rod to give a pleasing display such as would be welcomed by children in which each individual child may be provided with his own towel or indicia.

While the present invention has been described in connection with the preferred embodiments of the various figures, it is to be understood that other similar embodiments may be used or modifications or additions may be made to the described embodiment for performing the same function of the present invention without deviating therefrom. Therefore, the present invention should not be limited to any single embodiment, but rather construed in breadth and scope in accordance with the recitation of the appended claims. 

1. A method for hanging a circular towel to a towel rod in which access to the ends of the towel rod is precluded, comprising the steps of: providing a circular towel; attaching a bifurcated strap to the center of the towel, the strap having releasably attachable strap ends; surrounding the towel rod with the strap ends; and, securing the strap ends together, whereby the circular towel is supported by the towel rack and falls from its center to present a surface on the towel which may be provided with indicia that are not occluded by towel folds.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the towel includes indicia at the periphery of the towel.
 3. The method of claim 2, wherein the indicia includes a design, whereby the design may be presented upon hanging the towel from the towel rod so that no towel folds obscure the design, thus to provide a pleasing appearance.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the releasably securable ends of the strap are held together with a snap.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein the strap ends are secured together utilizing a button and button hole combination.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the strap ends are secured utilizing a pair of interlocking loop members.
 7. Apparatus for the hanging of a towel about a close-ended towel rod, comprising: a towel having a center; a bifurcated strap attached to the center of said towel and having distal ends releasably attachable about said towel rod; and, a mechanism for releasably attaching the distal ends of said strap, whereby the distal ends of said strap may be secured about said towel rod to hang said towel from said towel rod.
 8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein said strap has a center and wherein said center is secured to the center of said towel.
 9. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein said mechanism includes mating snap elements on respective ends of said bifurcated strap.
 10. The apparatus of clam 7, wherein said mechanism includes a button and button hole structure carried on respective ends of said bifurcated strap.
 11. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein said mechanism includes mating interlocking loop elements on the respective ends of said bifurcated strap.
 12. The apparatus of claim 7, and further including a swivel interposed between a portion of said bifurcated strap and said towel.
 13. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein said towel is a circular towel.
 14. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein said towel is an oval towel.
 15. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein said towel is a rectilinear towel.
 16. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein said towel carries indicia at the periphery thereof.
 17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein said indicia includes a design.
 18. In combination, a circular towel and a bifurcated strap mounted to the center of said circular towel, with said bifurcated strap having ends releasably attachable to each other.
 19. The combination of claim 18, and further including a mechanism for releasably securing the ends of said bifurcated strap together taken from the group consisting of snaps, buttons and button holes, and interlocking loop elements. 